FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an apparatus for arranging tubes in rows. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tube caser in which a continuous operation of arranging tubes in rows on a tray and fitting the tubes in the tray is carried out at a high efficiency by intermittently shifting the tray and setting the tubes row by row onto the tray.
It is known to package tubes by fitting the mouth portions of the tubes into concave portions of a tray. In this known method, the operation of fitting the tubes into the tray is done manually. The tube caser of the present invention makes it possible to carry out this operation mechanically and automatically.
In conventional extruded tubes, such as toothpaste tubes, the seal portion on the end opposite to the mouth portion of the tube is press-bonded in a more or less linear or plate-like form, and therefore, the width of the plate-like seal portion is larger than the diameter of a main barrel portion in the tube. Accordingly, when such tubes, arranged in several rows, are to be fed onto a tray or the like, the seal portions of the tubes interfere with the feeding and it is very difficult to feed the tubes simultaneously. For example, if the shape of a tube feed chute is made to fit the diameter of the barrel portion of the tube, passage of the seal portion through the chute is hindered, and if the shape of the tube chute is made to fit the width of the plate-like seal portion, a clearance is formed between the barrel portions of adjacent tubes and therefore, the barrel portions of the tubes can move out of alignment during the step of moving the tubes out of the chute, with the result being that it is difficult to fit the mouth portions of the tubes properly into the tray.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus in which a continuous operation of arranging tubes in rows on a tray and fitting the tubes in the tray can be accomplished at high efficiency by shifting the tray intermittently and feeding the tubes row by row through chutes into the tray.
More specifically, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a tube caser comprising a slide plate for intermittently shifting a tray adapted for containing tubes therein, a chute for dropping tubes row by row, a frame for moving the dropped tubes onto the top face of the tray and a stuffing plate for stuffing the tubes into the tray.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail by reference to the accompanying drawings.